Tax Alliance calls for Uganda first policy

April 30, 2019 in Business, Finance, Policy by Editor

The Tax Justice Alliance Uganda TJAU, a collective of civil society organisations active in the governance and policy arena, has faulted biases in fiscal proposals for 2019/20 that confer undue advantage on foreign entities at the expense of citizens and indigenous businesses.

In a position paper on the 2019/20 budget paper, TJAU takes issue with a proposed amendment to the tax code which expands the meaning of  a citizen to include companies and natural persons within the six-member East African Community. The Alliance points out that besides none of the other member states having similar provisions in their law, the policy would expose Ugandan entities to needless competition from more established firms elsewhere, when competing for procurement under local content laws.

“The proposed amendment is likely to harm such policies as Buy Uganda Build Uganda BUBU, by opening up Ugandans to unnecessary competition from their East African neighbours,” TJAU said during a briefing to media.

“More so the conditions for investment by Ugandans in other EAC partner states are not favourable and it therefore make no sense to keep an open door policy for other citizens of the EAC while we suffocate homegrown enterprises,” the Alliance argues.

TJAU instead recommends that citizenship should be redefined to factor in the Ugandan citizen as separate and distinct  from the rest of EAC citizens. It also also reasons that Uganda such a definition should not be adopted until all other member states adopt the same definition of a citizen.

Looking  at the UGX 41.5 stock of debt, the Alliance also takes issue with rising public debt which is siphoning more resources from social spending. “It is not surprising that interest payment is is one of the items taking tje lion’s share of the budget compared to education and agriculture. In addition government continues to introcude tax measures that deepen the tax burden rather than broaden the tax base TJAU says.